Opposing proposed fee

| February 10, 2014

EDITOR: As alumni of the California State University system, we wish to protest the proposed $500 increase in fees that may be foisted upon Sonoma State University students.

Many years ago we were able to work and put one another through two CSU colleges, a strategy that seems much less possible today. That added fee, coming on the heels of the recent $300 increase, could well be a final straw for many working-class students who are barely hanging on financially.

Moreover, as retired educators — at SSU and St. Vincent de Paul High School, respectively — we are now trying to assemble college funds for our grandchildren. Such an unconscionable boost in fees at SSU would pose one more unnecessary hurdle for us and for others depending on the local university for high-quality training.

We urge SSU (and the CSU system) not to deny our state the benefit of well-educated, blue-collar scholars just to satisfy the bloated ambitions of administrators.